The Center for Prevention of Abuse, a central Illinois organization that helps victims-and even perpetrators-of abuse, has a motto: Opening Doors, Changing Lives. To give back to an agency that's given so much, community volunteers recently made it possible for a door to open for the Center-a new housing facility, administrative base, and program center.

The New Door
Longtime Center supporter Flo Banwart, along with her husband, Sid, co-chaired the Opening Doors-Saving Lives Campaign. "Our friend, Executive Director Martha Herm, spoke at our church one Sunday morning. Afterward, she said she wanted to talk to us about an idea she had. We met her at the Center and toured the facilities, noting the crowded working conditions for staff and clients alike. Martha told us of the board's desire to create additional housing and relieve the congestion in the shelter by building an addition to their current shelter facility. In late 2000, we agreed to chair the capital campaign," she said.

After a feasibility study showed they should proceed with the capital drive, a group of community leaders was put together to assist with it. During the same time, plans for the addition were finalized, with estimated costs higher than initially expected, Banwart said. "Our final campaign goal was $4.2 million; this seemed very daunting in the beginning. But with the help of the staff, board, and other volunteers, it began to happen."

The quiet phase of the campaign began in 2001-2002, she said. "With the generous support of several individuals, Caterpillar Inc., and Congressman Ray LaHood, we had significant dollars pledged to our effort before asking the community for its help. In June 2003, we learned the Center's proposal was accepted by the Kresge Foundation, and their $250,000 was given to us when we completed our final $900,000 of fundraising last June. We had reached our $4.2 million goal."

The end list of donors included more than 850 individuals, corporations, foundations, organizations, and small businesses. "The amounts ranged from $1 to $400,000. Some organizations held showers to help with the furnishing of the apartments," Banwart said.

All of this fundraising bought next-step housing, new space for program and administrative staff, and freed additional space for emergency shelter housing, she said. "The next-step housing wing is used to help victims of violence who need to bring about permanent change in their lives. Living in the apartments gives them the counseling help and staff support they need to make those changes. The eight apartments have been fully occupied since they opened; 12 women and their families have already been able to make plans to change their lives and begin carrying out those plans.

"The two-story program and administration portion houses a large, well-designed Children's Center to help with the care of the shelter and apartment residents' children. This room is also available to children of support group members, who meet in the evenings. Also, a large training and education room allows staff to conduct seminars and in-service education for many groups-including health care, law enforcement, and legal. Any community education had taken place outside the facility previously," she said.

Community Need, Community Effort
The new addition supports more of the work that originally attracted Elizabeth Jensen, president of the Center for Prevention of Abuse Board of Directors. "Prior to moving to Peoria in 1995, I'd been a legal services attorney and had represented many clients that were victims of domestic violence. When I moved here, I decided that although I was no longer working as a legal services attorney, I wanted to continue helping victims of violence, so I volunteered at the Center."

She explained the Center was founded 28 years ago as a rape crisis line. "Since then, it's expanded to include several programs: WomenStrength, a domestic violence program that includes a shelter for victims; InnerStrength, a sexual assault program; SeniorStrength, an elder abuse program; FamilyStrength, a batterers' intervention program; and YouthStrength, a violence prevention education program. The Center's mission is to build a safe, peaceful community through these five programs."

And although it's not comfortable to think about, these programs serve people from all different walks of life-our friends, family, and neighbors included. "We have clients whose ages range from two to 100. We have male and female clients. Our clients are all different races and come from all different economic backgrounds. Through my 10 years as an advocate, I've worked with victims as young as eight and as old as 85. Some were poor, some were well off, some were black, some were Asian, some were Latino, and some were white. Violence, unfortunately, touches us all."

Indeed, the Center served 5,000 victims of abuse in the past year alone, Jensen said. "Even though we've served so many, the demand for our services continues and is always on the rise. One woman is beaten every nine seconds in this country. One woman is sexually assaulted every six minutes. One out of every three girls and one out of every six boys has been sexually abused before they're 18. Given these statistics, we hope our expansion will help us enlarge our programs so we can provide more long-term solutions to violence and abuse."

One of the first things visitors and clients alike notice about the new addition is that it's more than utilitarian-it's a safe, warm environment. Part of that is due to the quilts adorning the walls. "After seeing the large, potentially bare walls in the program and administrative addition, Martha and I knew we needed something to add warmth and color to the building," Banwart said. "Both of us are quilters and had talked about our love of quilting on many occasions. We had also discussed the need to recognize the financial contributions of those who made the building construction possible. The idea of using donor names on quilts began to evolve."

She said they began the process by collecting the names of all donors who had contributed $25 or more. "Those who wished to be included have their names pieced into a 'peaceful quilt.' Names were arranged on a quilt according to their donations and have been placed throughout the new addition. Sherri Coppenbarger of Morton helped with the design, piecing and machine quilting three of the quilts, and adding quilting to another. I pieced three quilts and printed names onto fabric to be included in some of the quilts. Martha shared some beautiful antique blocks she had collected for one of the quilts, and we were able to purchase locally made quilts to which we added embroidered names of donors."

The symbolism of the quilts made by local women to beautify the walls of the Center seems particularly fitting, Banwart said. "The work of women's hands has done so much through the ages to heal and nurture. Hopefully, these works of art will bring pleasure and comfort to everyone who visits the building."

Banwart said the biggest challenge she faced as the campaign chair was telling the difficult story of the Center. "Everyone knew of the reasons for its existence; however, not everyone wanted to acknowledge the need in our community. We had to talk about very difficult issues of abuse, assault, and violence that take place right here in our midst. Although it was the most challenging aspect, it will ultimately benefit the Center with a broader base of community support."

Jensen said beating the clock was one of the hardest aspects of the campaign for her. "We raised the money thanks to the incredible generosity of the entire community and the leadership of Flo and Sid Banwart, but there were a few moments when we weren't sure if we would reach our goal by the June 1 deadline. The Kresge Foundation awarded us a challenge grant of $250,000 as an incentive to the community to encourage donors to fully fund our project. The only catch was that we had to raise $3.85 million by June 1. It's never easy to ask people for money, but in the end, it was well worth it."

The work to raise the $4.2 million to open the addition was a good reminder of why she supports the Center, Jensen said. "Seeing the ground break, then the building built, and then opened was a fantastic experience. The best part for me, though, is just working with the clients-going to the hospital in the middle of the night to help a rape victim or domestic violence victim by holding her hand, telling her about all the services, getting her shelter, letting her know she isn't alone, and ultimately enabling her to heal and survive is an incredible thing." TPW